Atlanta Braves insider hints at unthinkable Ronald Acuña contract drama

Could Ronald Acuña hold out of his Braves contract? It’s a rarely-seen act in baseball, and one that would have ramification across the sport.

NFL holdouts are normal, but in MLB, contracts are guaranteed. You get what you sign.

Most players are fine with that, as the MLBPA is perhaps the most powerful players union in professional sports. But what happens when young players undersell themselves?

The recent trend around MLB — especially for smaller-market teams — is to replicate the Atlanta Braves style of business. Atlanta has signed the majority of their young core long-term, and they did so by handing out large chunks of cash prior to their age-25 seasons. This perhaps overpays them in their first few seasons, but eventually comes out to a huge discount when said player would reach free agency on a more traditional deal.

Ronald Acuña, for one, is making far below his market value. Acuña is an NL MVP candidate at his best, and an NL All-Star regular at worst. In April of 2019, he signed an eight-year, $100 million deal. That’s a lot of money to someone in their early-20’s.

Atlanta Braves: What’s wrong with Ronald Acuña’s contract?

Nothing in particular is wrong with Acuña’s deal. If he is happy, then there’s nothing to worry about.

However, as free-agent deals continue to increase with regularity to nearly five-times what Acuña is expected to receive over the length of his contract, will everything still be peachy down in Georgia? Braves analyst Chris Dimino from 680 The Fan has some thoughts:

“He is starting to look around at Trea Turner and Carlos Rodon,” Dimino said, via Sportskeeda. “And what Juan Soto is going to get or what Manny Machado got? I say he’s going to hold out. People in the Braves hate when I say that out loud.”

Dimino is merely speculating, as there’s no noise out of Atlanta suggesting Acuña is unhappy with his deal. He and Ozzie Albies came up in the Braves system together. Back when they signed their deals in 2019, they were thrilled. Could the beat of that drum have changed so significantly since then?

Acuña plays for an organization which is committed to winning, has a recent World Series trophy to their name and are among the favorites to reach that pinnacle again this season. For now, all is well.

But if the Venezuelan outfielder starts looking around at the players he considers his equals, I wouldn’t blame him for wanting more.